14th ranked Whitworth hosts 11th ranked St. Thomas Saturday

Two of the premier teams in D3 basketball will meet on Saturday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse in Spokane when the 14th ranked Pirates host 11th ranked St. Thomas.

It's not just that the Bucs and Tommies are good this season. Using the last four years as a sample size, it's easy to argue there have been few better. St. Thomas is 105-15 in that span, having won a national championship in 2011. The Pirates are 103-12, and are coming off a third straight trip to the Sweet 16.

It's the regular season opener for Whitworth, while the Tommies played Thursday night at Whitman. Matt Logie's Bucs have quite the streak they'll put on the line Saturday... the haven't lost a home opener since 1978 when Gonzaga beat them. Logie and his team are just excited to play such a big game so early in the season, and to get the chance to do it at home.

"It's difficult to schedule games like this, being as isolated as we are geographically. So anytime someone takes on the challenge to come out here and play us, we're excited about that," Logie says. Junior guard Dustin McConnell adds, It's great to have such a good team coming in so early in the season. They are playing us at home and we're just really excited for the opportunity to get to play them and, we're excited to hopefully have a great crowd."